


Sing To Me

by Baabeey_Dee



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl x Reader - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Just Quarantine Things, Multi, On god this is my first work here pls don't say something mean or ill cry, Reader Insert, SOPHIA IS GONNA LIVE ON THIS AND YOU CAN RIP THIS OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS, Shane x reader - Freeform, Slow Burn, am just a dumb tired college student, but not really, but pls tell me if you liked it i thrive on compliments, dont be mean, kinda rick x reader, like really dubious pairing idk who we ending up w ngl, rick's friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26797189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baabeey_Dee/pseuds/Baabeey_Dee
Summary: They were your family. Rick, Shane, Carl, hell- Even Lori.They were all there for you for most of your life, always looking out for you. Now it was your time to look out for them.It was your time to watch over Rick's unconscious form, it was your time to set Shane's head straight, it was your time to be there for Lori.It's surprising how your family grew, how you'd care for a certain blue-eyed redneck, or for a defenseless little girl in the woods, for an old man in a stupid farm and his daughters... Could you really lookout for all of them?You didn't know.... But God you'd die trying to find out, if you had to.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/You, Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Lori Grimes/Shane Walsh, Rick Grimes/You, Shane Walsh/You
Comments: 23
Kudos: 56





	1. You Wished you'd done things differently

**Author's Note:**

> ahah,,,, sup'
> 
> Please don't be mean i'm just bored I got three exams this week and I'm just tryna relax.  
> Don't know it there'll be smut, or whatnots. Also I'm not sure abt the pairing yet, alright, chill.

**Somebody once told me that there's two sides to life, what's yours?**

**I might have accidentally let the darkness eat the light, and that's why...**

* * *

_Y/N- C’mon! We have to- Just help me, girl!” You huffed as Shane tried to make you run faster, his grip on your wrist almost bruising as he pulled you through the hallways, you ignored the other staff screaming around, only focusing on trying to reach your friend’s room._

_It was frantic, the last you heard before you were able to slip away from your duties, the army was going around dragging some of your coworkers down to_ somewhere _._

 _“Shit-” You growled when you realized that you wouldn’t be able to move Rick with all of the machines hooked to him. It only took you a glance at Shane’s terrified eyes to know what you needed to do. “We have to take him out of here_ **_now_ ** _.”_

You gasped as you jolted from your bed, swinging your legs off and trying to calm your erratic breathing. 

_One, two, in… three, four, five, out._

Repeating that like a mantra, you gulped drily before looking to the side to see your unconscious friend. 

“Can you believe I’m still having nightmares? God, Shane would have laughed his ass off, that little shit.” You hummed, taking one last breath as you jumped from the hospital bed, moving to check if Rick was still breathing before rolling your shoulders back in an attempt to take all the tenseness off your back. “We’re starting to run low on supplies, curls. Can’t keep wasting our shit… but I have to change our bandages, though.” 

You touched your left shoulder, the wound was already itching. _Which was good_. It meant it was healing, but you were a bit worried about your other ones. 

“But you come first, curls.” Gently moving Rick, you inspected his gun wound, it was basically healed, but you weren’t taking any chances on him getting an infection by exposure. You sighed as his head lulled to the other side, god he needed to shave… After doing it a couple of times, you’d gotten used to the edges of his jaw and neck, being able to shave him without nicking his skin. You wondered how Lori would react to you so gently wiping his face clean from the shaving cream, and you couldn’t help but laugh as thought over your life from before everything went to shit.

“God… You remember when you broke up with Lori for a week over me?” Chuckling, you gently moved his head to one side as you tried to carefully shave his jaw. “Shane and I- We had no clue why you two broke up and you wouldn’t tell us… God, I still remember her all up on my face, saying that you chose me or some shit… Let's just say that the school had a field day with a college girl almost picking a fight with me... _Well_ , I do have to say I was flattered that you chose bros over hoes… But c’mon that was a little too much.” You laughed again, shaking your head as you smiled fondly at nothing “You kept sulking around until I told you- Until I told you to _Men up…_ But I’m glad you didn’t just walk out of my life… Don’t think I could’ve survived school without you and Shane…” Gulping before blinking your tears away, you wiped the last of the shaving cream from his face. 

“There, all done. Shame this was our last razor…” Even without expecting an answer, it still hurt to be met with silence. Not even the buzzing of an AC, or the beeping of the machines to fill it. Just the dead silence. 

Funny how you longed to hear the things you hated so much before, you used to hate the machines beeping, a constant reminder that so many lives were at your hands... You never expected to miss it. 

“It’s settled then… Guess I’m going on a little tour… Maybe I’ll find one of those old people candy for when you wake up, huh? How does that sound?” You moved around, not speaking directly to him, just… _Speaking_. After being alone for so long, that was the only way for you to remain sane. Well- As sane as anyone can be in that shithole of a world.

Looking behind you one last time, you sighed again while you adjusted your backpack, hopefully, you could find some supplies, and who knows, maybe you could find some razors and some shaving cream, it’s not like people would stack up on those, right?

As usual, you moved the bed in front of his door, quietly making your way out of the hospital in hopes of being back before dawn.

It wasn’t a long walk to the gas station near the hospital, but it was a dangerous one. As per usual, you first grabbed whatever medicine you could get your hands on, then moved to some of the food, ignoring the itching on your hands to reach for some cigarettes, instead, reaching for the razors and shaving cream. 

You stopped in the middle of the aisle, a smile tugging on your lips at the latest - and possibly last - copy of whatever comic Carl was reading.

Your fingers brushing over the edges of the pages, your heart tugging at the memory of Carl jumping to hug you even before you gave him whatever you had brought to him. It always made you smile how he beamed whenever he saw you. Even if sometimes he’d embarrass the hell out of you by asking if you and “uncle Shane” were finally together. That kid… Always the observant one. 

You didn’t have a family, not of your own, at least. 

The only one you had was them. Shane and Rick. And after some years, Carl and Lori, even if the latter had her problems with you from time to time. 

Your parents… Well, they weren’t your parents at all. Never were your family. Not even before Shane kicked some bullies off you back when you were in seventh grade while he was a freshman. Not even before Rick let you climb into his room past three a.m when you were too scared to sleep in your own house. 

Your family… Was _them_. 

You snapped out of your memories to the sound of nearby growling, quickly shoving the comic in your bag before you gripped your knife harder. Quietly moving to grab the rest of what you could before trying to sneak away out of the same broken window you came in. 

Sighing into the sky, you tried to quicken your steps when you realized it was later than you expected, not nearly night, but still, not early either. 

If you had to guess, you’d say it was around three, maybe four… But again, you were just guessing. Rick was always the one able to tell what time it was from the sun’s position or whatever he used. 

It was moments like those that you wished you paid more attention to what he was saying back when you all went camping, rather than only noticing how blue his eyes were, or that you kept up with Shane on his morning runs instead of jogging behind to watch his cute ass. 

You wished you’d done a lot of things differently. 

And one of those things, was that you wished you’d chained that damned door. 


	2. Not in a million years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know if someone is reading this, tbh, but writing for this is a great way of getting my mind off things.   
> Also, this is legit just fan-service, no real story, don't wanna think if I'm being honest, I just wanna write shameless self-insert, wanna save my fave characters,,,,,, that's all lmao bye

**Talking to the mirror like I’ve him somewhere, before.**

**He said I looked familiar, did we meet the other night?**

* * *

Nothing could compare to what you felt when you turned the corner to see the bed that had never been moved before, not being there. 

Your blood froze in your veins, you could barely breathe, almost falling back as the worst images came to your mind. Eyes filling with tears with just the thought of what waited for you behind the door. 

Would you find your dead best friend? Would you find a muncher so fat that it could barely get up, after having fed on your unconscious friend? Or worst of all, would Rick be the muncher? 

Your hands were shaking as you reached for your pistol, the one Shane had given to you on your twenty-first birthday, saying that a young woman like yourself, who had just gotten her first job in Atlanta and was going to live alone in a big city, shouldn’t be out and about without protection. 

Almost falling to your knees, you dry-heaved after opening the door, the sight of an empty room lifting a weight off your shoulders. Pressing the back of your hand to your lips, you took a couple of deep breaths, scanning the room in hopes of finding out what happened. 

There was no blood on his bed, and by the way it was moved, you guessed that Rick chose one of those rare moments where you weren’t there, to finally wake up. 

Putting everything you could in your bag, you sprinted out, looking around as if you’d find that son of a bitch -  _ Sorry, Mrs. Grimes _ \- stumbling around. The bed was still warm, so there’s no way he could be far. 

“Think Y/N,  _ think _ .” Pulling at your hair, you tried to imagine where someone who just woke up from a coma  _ alone _ , would go “Son of a bitch…  _ You’re going home _ .” 

It scared you what could happen to him, he had no idea what happened,  _ he could get bit _ . You tried to shake those thoughts out of your mind as you ran faster, once again cursing yourself for not racing Shane or Rick when you had the chance. 

It was a long run from the Harrison Memorial Hospital to his house, and you were starting to doubt if you were right on your guess. With him not using his legs for months, there’s no way he could have ran faster than you. 

If he was walking, you would have caught up with him, already. 

_ “Please, please. Let me be right. Please,  _ **_Please_ ** _.”  _ You were dripping sweat when you finally stopped in front of their house, looking up at their front yard, breath heavy as you took notice of the out of place bike thrown on the sidewalk, smiling through your pain at the fact that  _ you were right _ . 

You decided to strut inside through their back door, you adjusted the grip on your knife, looking around before you started to call out to him, paying attention to your surroundings in hopes of not getting surprised by a muncher.

It was eerily quiet, a faux sense of calmness and safety hovering over you at the familiarity of the walls and at the few photographs that hung on the living room, you could almost smell Lori’s fresh brewed coffee. 

If you let yourself wonder enough you could hear Carl’s giggles as you chased him around the house, the scratches on the planked wood a reminder of all those times you two knocked into stuff mid-playing. It wasn’t rare to have you early in the morning paying a visit to Lori and Rick, and as much as Lori wished she saw you  _ at least _ a little bit less, you knew she enjoyed the company. 

You could recall all those times you snatched Carl for a fun weekend with you, to give them a little privacy and a little rest. Those ice-cream for snack filled afternoons, or the nights filled with light horror movies as you begged Carl to protect you from whatever nonsense the movie was, always jumping in hopes of making him laugh, and it worked every time. 

Snapping out of your daydream, you inspected the room before quickly making your way around the house, searching for any signs of your friend. You trusted your gut that he had been there,  _ he just had to _ . 

Leaving the house, you looked around the street nervously. It was going to darken soon, and the Grimes’ house was far from being safe. Anything could break those doors down, if they put on the slightest effort. But you doubted you could reach the hospital in time for shelter, the munchers were already starting to pile up on the street.

You frowned when you thought you saw some movement in a window from a few houses down the street. Taking a deep breath, you gripped your handgun tighter, making your way to a house you surely had visited before. What were their names again? Brad and Cynthia? No- Fred and Cindy! You could hardly recall, the couple of times you were there, it was only for the fancy wine and to ease Rick’s mind about you not “socializing” enough. 

Right, as if you didn’t socialize enough in your job. 

Looking up at the house, you wondered if you should just knock, or if you should try to find a way inside without alerting whoever was on the other side of that door,  _ if _ , there really was someone.

All the curtains were drawn shut, besides all the planks of wood that looked to be protecting the windows. 

“Drop the weapon.” You froze at the sound of a voice, your blood running cold when you heard the cocking of a gun. “Slowly, then kick it away.” Moving to do as you were told, you tried to think of ways you could escape unscathed. 

“I’m not looking for trouble.” 

“Oh really? And what are you looking for, huh?” The man moved to your vision, gun still pointed at you as he slowly crouched to pick your weapon up, checking for the safety before tucking it in his pants. 

“Someone. I was just going to ask if anyone had seen him. White, blue eyes, yay-high… Probably still in his hospital gown.” Your heart raced at the recognition on his eyes, gulping when he rolled his shoulders as if he was trying to ease himself. 

“He bit?” 

“Not the last I saw him.” You watched the men size you down, conflict written on his face and you could only think of the worst. Had he killed him? Had this man seen Rick as a chewer? “Please… Is he-” The men lowered his eyes before he lowered his weapon, not being able to look you in the eyes as you choked on your tears. 

“He’s alive, he’s just… Knocked out.” Your legs could barely hold your weight, falling to your knees as you quietly sobbed, trying to take deep breaths as the men awkwardly stood on his place. “He’s inside, we- We tied him to the bed. He got a wound, I didn’t know if it was a bite… I’m Morgan.” You raised your eyes, accepting his extended hand as you wiped your tears with the sleeves of your plaided shirt. 

“I’m- I’m Y/N.” He nodded his head in a greeting, scanning the street before mentioning you to follow him. 

You didn’t know why you dreaded crossing the doorway, what if he was lying? What if he didn’t see Rick at all and this was just some trick? It wouldn’t be the first time a human was more dangerous than the chewers. Morgan looked over his shoulder at you still on the backdoor, brows raised as he slammed your gun on the kitchen table. 

“You try anything.  _ Anything _ . And I’ll blow yours and  _ his  _ brains out.” Your eyes followed the direction his chin pointed, the weight lifting off your shoulders when you caught sight of your best friend, basically sprinting into the room to grab his cheeks, your heart hammering as your eyes filled with tears, quickly moving around to search for any other wound than his gunshot. Sighing in relief as you only found a couple of scratches on his knees, probably from falling on the street. 

“I found you…  _ God-” _

“My boy hit him… Thought he was a walker.” It was only then you noticed the young boy, a bit older than Carl, standing next to his daddy with a baseball bat on his hands, nervously glancing from you and Rick to his father. 

“I can’t blame him.” You smiled softly at the boy before turning to face Rick again. “With the state he’s on, I would’ve been surprised if nobody confused him with a chewer.” You checked his bandage, grunting when you realized that you’d have to change it again. 

Morgan watched you working on cleaning your friend’s wound from afar, not commenting about the supplies you took from your backpack, before you took a seat next to his legs. God, you were tired. The emotional toll of having to hunt Rick down, not knowing if he was alive or dead…  _ It was just too much.  _

It reminded you of the first night after all hell broke loose, those nights where you were more out of conscious than not, those nights you puked and went delirious of fever and pain, and that you somehow still managed to care for Rick. 

“He’s alive?” Chuckling, you nodded your head while you checked if he had a fever.

“He is… This man is too stubborn to die.” You thought you heard him snort before he moved to settle the water his son brought on the vanity, wetting a cloth to cool himself while you stared at Rick, breath hitching when he twitched, eyes opening as he looked around in confusion until he finally settled them on you. 

You prayed too many times to see those eyes again, to have him look at you,  _ for him to wake up _ . 

And there he was. 

“Sketchy?” 

“Hey, curls… Can’t believe you chose  _ today  _ to wake up.” You saw him pulling on his bounds, as if he was moving to meet your hug. 

He shushed you while you cried, head buried on his chest, his voice hoarse from the little use, and still, you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Your wife changed your bandages… That wound was pretty rank.” Sniffling, you pulled back as you wiped your tears, Rick’s head whipping around to look at Morgan.

“She’s not my wife.” You chuckled at Rick’s automatic response, he’d been told that way too many times to be bothered by it now. 

“What was it? The wound?” 

“Gunshot.” Your friend answered while you moved to check his wound again, searching for anything else now that he was awake and could turn on his own. 

“Gunshot? What else? Anything?” 

“Gunshot ain’t enough?” You snorted at the exchange before Morgan glared at you, moving to talk to him again. 

“Look, I ask, you answer. It’s common courtesy, right?” Backing away slightly, you tried to ignore the itch to move Morgan away from Rick when he lowered closer to your friend. “Did. You get. Bit?” 

“He didn’t. I checked.” Morgan raised his eyes at you, suspicion still shining on his eyes as he ignored your answer. 

“Bit?” 

“Bit, chewed… Maybe scratched,  _ anything  _ like that?” 

Rick looked at you, wondering if you too had gone crazy before he stared at Morgan again. 

“No, I got shot… Just shot, as far as I know.” 

You watched the weird interaction a bit more, tensing when Morgan pointed the knife at Rick and told him how sharp it was, but when he said the same thing he did to you, you quickly understood that he was only trying to keep his own safe. 

“Come on out when you’re able.” The first thing Rick did when he was able to sit down, was to pull you into a hug, burying his head into your chest while you tried not to hurt him more than he already was. 

“ _ What happened? _ ” You sighed, pressing your lips into his hair as he cried into you, muttering how he couldn’t find Lori and Carl, tearing up as he repeated again and again  _ ‘what happened’. _

Rick only pulled back when you hissed at him squeezing the gun wound on your hip, looking at you wide-eyed before he shakily lifted your shirt, looking at you the same way he did that day you broke your arm from falling from the tree back in middle school, as if he’d have to sign your death certificate. 

“Don’t worry about it, curls. I’ve got two more of those, and much like you, I guess I’m too stubborn to die.” You chuckled, but he was still wearing that same face, like you’d drop dead any minute now. 

“You-  _ You got shot? _ H-  _ How?! _ ” Dropping your shirt back in its place, you sighed, shaking your head as you gulped thick, the memories of that day crawling up from the back of your mind, the days where it was mostly just pain and wondering if you’d live through the night, those sleepless days where you’d lock yourself on the bathroom so you couldn’t reach him in case you did turn into a biter in the middle of the night. 

“It’s… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, ok? Come out when you can… We have a lot to tell you.” 

* * *

You found yourself curling next to Rick after dinner and  _ The Talk _ , looking up to the ceiling as you wondered if you’d be able to sleep with other people in the room, after being alone this whole time, it felt weird,  _ crowded _ , to be next to someone else other than Rick’s still form. 

“Carl… Is he your son? We- You said his name today.” You tensed at Morgan’s voice, looking up at Rick, who had yet to touch on that topic to you, but you heard the way his voice thickened and the way he also tensed slightly at the question. 

“He’s a little bit younger than your boy.”

“And he’s with his mother?” It felt like there was a hand wrapping around your throat as you remembered how Carl was scared the last time you saw him, how he was glued to your leg begging you to not leave him. 

_ ‘I’ll be right back, champ. I just gotta get your daddy, ok? Uncle Shane and I will be right back, I promise. Now go help your momma pack up.’  _

Those were the last words you said to him. How you’d be back. How you would give him his father back. You hated to break a promise to him let alone two.

“I hope so.” You didn’t have to look up from your hands to know that Rick was watching you, as if waiting for you to break the news that they were dead. Almost on cue, Duane woke up from his nap, giving you time to recompose as they chuckled about their bet on why Rick got shot. 

Even though you could feel how Rick was apprehensive with you, as if you were the one to blame for everything that happened, he still put his arm out to protect you when a car alarm went off on the street. 

Later that night you found yourself still looking up into the white ceiling, wondering if - like Morgan - if you wouldn’t be able to put your family down, if they turned. 

If it came to it, would you be able to put a bullet through Ricks or Shane’s eyes? God-  _ Carl’s  _ eyes? 

Thankfully, Rick’s whisper took you out of your dark thoughts.

“They’re alive.” You didn’t have to ask who he was talking about, only moving your head to let him know you heard him. “I know they are.” 

“I know that too.” Rick visibly relaxed, letting his breath out before he slowly took your hand, squeezing it reassuringly before he asked hesitantly. 

“Why didn’t you go with them?” 

“I don’t-” You turned on your side to look at him, finding his eyes already on you as you tried to keep your breath on check “We- Shane and I… Sorry, I-.”

“It’s ok, sketchy. We don’t have to talk about it.” Rick chuckled lowly when you pressed your forehead on his shoulder. “But we have to talk about your story telling. I did  _ not  _ sulk around when Lori and I broke up.” 

You had to stifle a laugh when he poked fun at you remembering your old stories. 

“Yes you did, sheriff. I still remember you sighing around Shane’s room every damn time he talked about a girl.” 

Those whispered teasing, the quiet laughing, and the poking around reminded you of those times you stood in the same position, pressing your face on his arm to stay quiet like you were trying not to wake his mother up.

It reminded you how Shane would pull you from Rick’s bed to his own mattress on the floor because you two were making too much noise and he wanted to sleep, how he’s let you cuddle you even though he’d complain it was too hot for you to cling to him. 

The next morning you already found yourself scolding Rick for putting too much effort and bothering his wound as he killed his first walker, falling to his knees while you grumbled about all your work being in vain if he managed to tear it again. 

"You alright?" Ignoring Morgan's question, you huffed as you slapped the back of Rick's head when he pressed on his wound, hearing them chuckle at you scolding your friend.

"I just need a moment and for my friend to not slap me again." You scoffed as you helped him up, moving to his house and watching him go on about how Lori and Carl were alive.

"...at least they were when they left."

"How can you know? By the look of this place-"

"I found empty drawers in the bathroom. They packed some clothes, not a lot. Enough to travel." Rick looked at you, watching you eye the living room with  _ something _ in your eyes, he knew something happened, hell, you probably dreamt about it by the way you jolted awake that morning. But if there was something Rick learned about you with almost over two decades of friendship, was that you'd tell him when you were ready. There was no use rushing you.

"You know anybody could have broken in here and stole clothes, right?" 

"You see any framed photos on the walls? Neither do I. Some random thief stole those too?" You chuckled, watching Rick open the "memory cabinets", as Carl called them. "Our photo albums, family pictures,  _ all gone _ ." 

"Gosh… I told her to pack light." You sat down next to Morgan, patting his back as he broke down about how his wife did the same thing.

"You- you were with them?" Looking up at Rick, you nodded your head gently. 

"I was helping Carl pack before Shane and I drove to the Hospital to pick you up, then-" clearing your throat, you shook your head before eyeing Duane,  _ that  _ story could wait. "That was the last I saw of them." 

"They're in Atlanta, I bet." Give it to the kid's amazing timing to save you from Rick's questions.

"That's right." 

"Why there?" 

"Refugee center. Huge one, they said, before the broadcast stopped… military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said it would be the safest."

"Plus they have that disease place." 

"Center of Disease Control. Said they were working out how to-  _ solve  _ this thing."

"Anyone tell you anything, sketchy? At work? You ever find out why it happened?" You shook your head.

"We didn't even know what was happening. When the first cases happened we all thought it was some new drug… you know how it goes. Someone biting others, eyes bloodshot, weird strength and doesn't react to pain?" You scoffed, placing your gun in its holder while you raised to your feet "Even when they were turning, we thought it was because of withdrawal that they were burning up, or maybe that it was a bad case of the flu… in all honesty, it only took about two days for all hell to break loose, we didn't have time to really question why they were dying, or how they were coming back. One minute I'm trying to inject a sedative in a patient we're pretty sure had died, and the other I'm being dragged around by the military." 

"You a doctor?" You took your eyes from Rick's to shake your head at Morgan.

"Nurse, I was a nurse."

* * *

Oh that was heaven. 

You never thought you'd say that about the police station, but there you were watching Rick explain to Morgan how they still had water. 

It was a bit weird to be in the shower area, the only time you'd been back there was when you tried to beat the shit out of Shane for trying to make you quit your job by telling Carl that you were leaving and never coming back, as if that would change anything in that stupid mind of his. 

The memory was funny to you now, unclouded by the anger of that day, you could remember how some of his colleagues, who usually hit on you whenever you brought your boys lunch, were now backing away and quickly pointing where Shane was. Rick had to pull you away while Shane tried not to laugh at you getting wet by barging in when he was showering, even if Shane himself was angry at you for leaving the county to work in Atlanta. 

"Well, boys. I don't know about y'all, but I'll simply look to the other side." You muttered, quickly making your way to the farthest cubicle to shower, knowing you wouldn't see another one of those in a while.

You laughed at Duane singing and at Morgan's exclamations of joy, making some yourself as you got to really wash your hair for the first time in lord knows how long. 

"Did you shave my face, Y/N?" 

"I sure did, sheriff." You chuckled, looking over your shoulder to him looking at you, a fond smile on his lips as he grabbed the nearby razor. 

"Well, you did a bad job at it." Morgan laughed at your offended 'heys', poking your tongue out to Rick as he laughed, shaking his head while you turned yours again. 

You missed the way he stared at your back, the way you washed the conditioner from your hair almost hypnotizing until he caught sight of the exit wound on your shoulder left, that making him snap out of his thoughts, turning around and trying not to hate himself as much.  _ God _ , his wife-  _ his family  _ was missing yet, there he was being immersed in you again. 

It was out of pure luck that the one female officer was about your size, well- as close as it could be, at least. 

You felt weird walking around in her pants and tank top, but yours were stained with geek’s blood and it was nice to wear clean clothes. You still wore your plaided long sleeved shirt, mindful that you should protect as much skin as you could. 

Finding out Shane's lock combination was easier than you thought, searching for anything that he might be interested in was the hard thing. You chuckled after you dropped his playboy magazine, stilling when you found the charm you gave him back in highschool.

Rick lost his the week after their training started, and Shane told you he threw his out by accident. 

It was an ugly thing, old green charms that you put together as a way of keeping them safe, or whatever your puppy-love mind was telling you. 

"He always had it in his pocket whenever we went out on calls." You nearly jumped out of skin at Rick creeping up on you, he wore a gentle smile on his lips, holding out his hand until you gave the charms to him. "The boys always made fun of him, but he'd just laugh and say that it never failed him before, that someone special made it specially for him." That hand closing around your throat seemed to tighten it's grip, tears blurring your vision as Rick handed it back to you. "He'll probably want that back… c'mon, I need your help." 

After helping Rick fill the bags, you chose to help Duane with theirs, looking around for any sign of danger as you closed the trunk.

"You think there'll be a cure, miss?" Looking at him, you smiled gently.

"Maybe. I like to think that someone, somewhere hasn't slept in days because they're just close enough of figuring it out." Duane smiled back at you, nodding his head right before Morgan approached you two. "Be careful out here, Morgan. Don't let this world taint you two, ok? And thank you, for letting me find him." He nodded his head while you squeezed his shoulder, smiling one last time before you looked at Rick, his hand on his belt as he waited for you after telling Duane to watch out of his old man. "Where to?" 

"Atlanta." 

"You're the boss, boss." He smiled, opening his mouth to say something when the growls alerted him. You'd recognize that face anywhere, even through the decaying flesh. "Leon Basset?" 

"Poor asshole." You mumbled, sighing as his rotten fingers grabbed the fence. 

"Didn't think much of him… Careless and dumb, and after all the comments he made about you whenever you visited us his image didn't get any better, but… cant leave him like that." Morgan had approached you two, pistol in hand as he muttered back;

"You know they'll hear the shot."

"Let's not be here when they show up." You answered as you entered the police car, pressing your hands on your ears to muffle the sound as best as you could.

That gun of his is going to be such a fucking problem. 

You'd been traveling in silence for a while now, your feet on the dashboard even though Rick had grumbled for you to take them off, watching the trees go by as Rick tried to get someone to answer his calls on the radio.

"Maybe they just don't like your voice?" You tried to joke, not getting a reaction from him as the channel stayed silent. You sighed again, moving to lightly itch your wound as it bothered you again. 

"When you're ready… I'd be very interested in hearing what happened. Why you chose to stay behind…" 

"I didn't- I didn't choose." You mumbled back, looking out of the window again. Rick was already losing hopes of you talking about what happened when your voice filled the silence again. "I was going to take you out. Honestly the only way they let me and Shane into the hospital was because I said I worked there and that I needed to help people… bullshit, I was just going for you, but I kept being dragged around to help others until Shane decided to pull me around… it was chaos, curls. And it was so hard to think but god, I just needed to take you out, I'd take care of you while we were running or wherever we were."

"...but you couldn't." 

"But I couldn't." You repeated, setting your feet down as you prepared yourself to tell him what happened. "I was so close, Shane was helping me take a stretcher when someone grabbed me, some military guy. He saw my scrubs and he knew I was staff… they were taking us out of our duties or plucking us out from the hallways and rooms…" you cleared your throat, closing your eyes as you tried not to choke on your words. "So they lined us up, the soldier threw me in, I fell back, almost getting crushed by whoever was in front of me, then they fired." 

Rick's head snapped at you, hand seeking yours while you broke down. 

"And- and god- all I saw was Shane, frozen there watching me go down. Three wounds, one of the shoulder, one on the hip and a graze on my arm." 

"Sketchy… I'm so sorry, I-  _ shit _ ." 

"Yeah. It was dumb luck that they got overrun… couldn't shoot me in the head in time… I just remember crawling into the cleaning supplies closet. It took me almost a week to fully be awake, most of the time I was just puking and cleaning my wounds. I thought Shane had been able to take you with him, but he couldn't, so I took care of you… Gave me something to keep going." 

" _ Thank you _ ." You squeezed his hand back, cursing with him when the car slowed to a stop, after grabbing your bag, you followed Rick out into a nearby small farm.

You chose to ignore Rick’s calls for the people inside, looking around to watch his six while he checked the windows, it didn’t take a genius to know what he saw. 

Watching from afar, you chuckled as he tried to sweet talk the horse, smiling triumphantly at you when he was able to secure it and bring it out. 

"Rick, the horse whisperer."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh away and I'll leave you to jog behind us." You chuckled, grabbing the bags and his hat to hand it to him after he got on the horse. "You ever been in one of these before?" Your resting bitch face being enough of an answer for him. "Alright, then, princess. Hop on in front of me."

"Why can't I go in the back?" 

"You'll fall."

"Will not!"

"You will, Sketchy. Now c'mon up before one of those things show up." You eyed his extended hand before sighing and accepting it, gulping as Rick easily placed you between his arms. 

"Lori would kill me  _ then _ you, if she saw us." He chuckled at your mutter, making you yelp when he pinched your sides. 

"Yeah she would." 

The rest of the way to Atlanta wasn't as chatty as you thought it would be, being more out in the open leaving you itching to run and hide, but the sight of the glass buildings and of the fallen helicopters a reminder that you were possibly very close to finding your family. 

"Rick… I don't think this is a good idea." You whispered after the horse was spooked by a couple of walkers, and you hated to admit, but if you were in the back, you would have fallen. 

"It's ok. There's just a few, nothing we can't overpower…" 

You would have cursed him for jinxing it if it weren't for the sound of a helicopter, a  _ flying _ helicopter. 

It didn't take long for you to run into trouble, falling from the horse with Rick as the munchers attacked your new friend. 

You could hear your blood pumping on your ears as you tried to get Rick to get up as fast as possible, until you realized that running wasn't an option with the way you two were surrounded. Rick all but dragged you under the tank, shooting the ones he could while you pulled yourself inside it, grabbing his shirt to help him in breathlessly.

Rick was still trying to understand his surroundings when you shoved your knife into the muncher there with you, choosing to be safe rather than sorry. 

After making sure that the dead was  _ dead _ , you rested your back on the ground, pressing your hands on your eyes as you thought about what you could do. Never in a million years you would think that you'd hear another voice in there. 

" **_Hey you… Dumbasses… hey you in the tank…. You two cozy in there?_ ** "


	3. Louder than a thousand voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, alrighty! Happy 2021, y'all!  
> I felt like writing again, so i did! The next chapter is coming very soon, especially because,,,, the ending in this,,,, nice nice. 
> 
> Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE COMMENTS???? OH MY GOD? THAT'S THE ONLY REASON THAT MADE ME WANT TO POST THIS, BECAUSE I USUALLY WRITE FOR ME, YA'KNOW???? Anyways, thank you!

**I prayed, I prayed, God sent me right to voicemail.**

**It’s like all day, my vanity is for sale. Take it away, my head is in my own hell.**

* * *

You and Rick exchanged glances, trying to figure out if you had heard it right and that a voice actually came from the box.

 **_“Hey, Ya’ll alive in there?”_ **You couldn’t tell who scrambled for the radio faster, you or Rick. Heart pounding as you crawled to grab it, but seeing as Rick was faster, you let him take it, ignoring the clang and the grunt of pain that came from him hitting his head in a metal piece inside the tank before he finally answered the radio. 

“Hello?! _Hello?!”_

 **_“There you are!”_ ** you nearly collapsed at the relieved sigh the men on the other end let out, **_“You had me wondering.”_ **

“Where are you? Outside? Can you see us, right now?” You ignored the urge to mock Rick at his stupid question, choosing to instead rummage through the dead soldier again before searching for anything else you could use while Rick communicated with the man, avoiding Rick’s glare at you snorting at the men saying that there wasn’t any good news other than that you two were surrounded by munchers. “ _Listen_ , whoever you are, I don’t mind telling you that _I’m a little concerned, in here._ ”

“ ** _Oh, man… You should see from over here. You’d be having a major freak out._ **” 

Looking in disbelief at Rick, you crawled back while you scoffed, “Is this asshole going to help or just laugh at this fucking situation?” Rick scoffed back before sarcastically asking if he had any advice for us. 

**_“Yeah… I’d say make a run for it._ **”

“How crazy is this motherfucker? Give me that- _That’s it, kid? Make a run for it?”_ You growled in the radio, pushing the grenade and the knife you found on the soldier into Rick’s hands, when he tried to wrestle for the coms back, 

**_“My idea is not as dumb as it sounds! Ya’ll got eyes on the outside right here, there’s one geek still up in the tank. But the other joined the- the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. You with me so far?”_ **

“So far.”

 **_“Ok, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they’re distracted, you stand a chance. You got ammo?”_ **You finally returned the radio back to Rick while you scavenged for your gun and looked around again while your friend answered. 

“In the duffel bag that I dropped. And guns, can I get to it?” 

**_“Forget the bag. It’s not an option. What do you have on you?”_ **Rick looked at you for an answer as you put the clip back into your gun.

“Two Berettas, 27 bullets, one full clip and one half.” After repeating what you told him, you wiped the sweat off your brows at the guy’s answer, nodding your head at his directions as you prepared to get the fuck out as fast as possible. 

“Hey, what’s your name?” 

_“Seriously, Rick?!”_ He ignored your hiss as the guy scolded him.

“ ** _Have you been listening?! You’re running out of time!”_ **

“Fine.” Rick moved to where you were standing, looking into your eyes before grabbing the back of your head to press his forehead on yours. “ _Ready?”_

“Born that way, curls.” He smiled nervously, taking a deep breath as if to psyche himself up before you held his arm. “Let me go first, _I’m faster and I can hit them easier_.” You cut him off before he opened his mouth. Rick gulped before nodding his head, getting out of the way so you could open the heavy entry, hastly turning to stab the walker in the head as you quickly slid down and rolled off, already shooting some of them off as you waited for Rick to join you. 

After falling not as graciously as you, you chose to guard his six, seeing how slow Rick became from the possible twisted ankle from the jump. You nearly collided into him when he stopped, pointing his gun at the Asian kid.

“Whoah, Whoah! Not dead! Come on!” He urged, turning around to run while you pushed Rick into finally getting in the damn stairs.

“ _Y/N”_ He screamed when you struggled to rise, the dead catching your feet even while you kicked them off, groaning when you felt your boot slip off your right foot, shouting for them to climb faster. Rick was clawing at you, pulling you the rest of the way as you laid down on the floor, breath heavy as they rested against the safety railing. 

“Nice moves there, _Clint Eastwood._ ” You snorted at the kid’s words, still pumping with adrenaline to truly care about if offended Rick or not. “You’re the new sheriff? Came riding to clean up the town?” 

“Wasn’t my intention.”

“Yeah, whatever, _yee haw._ You’re still a dumbass” You laughed again, ignoring the growls and grunts under you, finally sitting up before raising to your feet with Rick’s help. 

“Rick, thanks.” He introduced himself, offering his hand to the kid as you looked at your feet, wondering if you should just lose the other shoe or keep it. 

“Glenn, you’re welcome.” You finally smiled up at him, nodding your head in acknowledgment as you also introduced yourself, receiving a nod back while Rick helped himself with sticking his gun inside Glenn’s backpack, “Oh no.”

 _“Shit._ I swear, this fucks are getting smarter by the day,” You sighed after looking at what had caught Glenn’s attention, now fond of the idea of taking the other shoe off just to throw at the rising dead. 

“Bright side? It’ll be the fall that kills us.” You looked up at the building, already groaning at the thought of going up it with only a sock to protect one of your feet. “I’m a glass half full kinda guy.” 

“Well, that would make one of us.” Rick snorted at your comment before looking at your situation, 

“Where’s your shoe?” 

“I don’t know Rick, maybe one of them liked it a little too much and took it without my goddamn permission.” He laughed as you climbed in front of him, looking down to send him a look when he kept laughing looking at your colorful sock. 

You kept complaining as you ran through the roofs, the little rocks and the gravel doing a number on your right foot while Rick and Glenn discussed who barricaded the alleys. 

“Back in the tank, why’d you stick your neck out for us?” 

“Call it foolish and naive hope that if I’m ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same thing for me.” You smiled softly at that answer, you were more at ease knowing that people like that still existed in that world. “Guess I’m an even bigger dumbass than you.” Rick exchanged a look with you while Glenn went down the stairs, mentioning that you should go first. 

You stuck watching his back while he strutted behind Glenn, looking over his shoulder when you heard Gleen talking into his radio that he had guests and warning about the geeks in the alley. 

Scoffing, you shook Rick’s hands off your shoulder to kill the geeks, not understanding why they froze seeing as there were only two of them. You were pleasantly surprised, though, when two men ran outside after you pulled your blade from one’s skull, running inside behind Glenn when Rick grabbed you by the shirt, dragging you while they took down the other one. 

“ _You son of a bitch, I’m gonna kill you_.” You moved faster than you thought you could at the sudden threat in the room, cocking your gun and pressing it against the back of the blonde one’s head, seeing as she currently had her gun shoved on Rick’s face. 

“I will give you three seconds to back away before I pull this fucking trigger.” You snarled, ignoring Rick’s hisses for you to stand down, noticing how she froze at your quick reaction, her hand shaking slightly when they all started to tell _Andrea_ , to back off and to ease up. 

“ _Ease up?_ You’re kidding, right? We’re dead because of this stupid asshole.” You pressed your gun harder on her head when her voice wavered, choosing to ignore Glenn’s worried glances and Rick’s pleas for you to move away. 

“No fucking chance, Rick.” 

“Andrea! I said **back the hell off.** ” The one speaking before stood at her side, glancing nervously at you and at your set eyes. 

“Listen to your friend, _Andrea_.” She tensed up harder when you growled lowly. 

“Or pull the trigger.” 

“I warn you that if I see her finger so much as _twitch_ …”

“Y/N! **Stand down, now.** ” Snapping your eyes at Rick, you glared at him before he mentioned his head to the safety trigger still on. With your jaw set, you snarled before backing off, still ready to react in case she turned into a real threat. 

She finally backed away when the men repeated that she should make her choice, her eyes wet as she went on about how they were all going to die because of you two. 

“I don’t understand.” Rick tried to reason, hand on your shoulder as you still kept your eyes on her, growling a “watch it” to the men as they pushed you through the place. 

“Look, we come to the city to scavenge for supplies. Do you know what the key to scavenging is? _Surviving_ . You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, _tiptoeing_ . **Not** shooting up the street like it’s the _Ok Corral._ ”

You finally understood as you looked through the glass doors, dozens of munchers pilling against the glass, hands clawing at it, teeth biting air at the sight of fresh warm meat. 

“Every geek from miles around heard you poppin' off rounds.”

“You two just rang the dinner bell.” 

You watched as they tried to break through the first glass, feeling Rick’s hand grab your arm and pull you back with everyone as it shattered more, the cracking sound seemed to cut your ears, so loud that you wondered if you were imagining it. 

“What the hell were you doing out there, anyway?” Andrea asked between heavy breaths. 

You kept your eyes on the doors, even through everyone's disbelief of Rick’s words about the helicopter. 

“He wasn’t hallucinating. There was a helicopter, I saw it too. Looked military to me.” 

_“I saw it._ ” Rick harshly stated before Morales asked “T-Dog” to try and contact the others through the radio. “The others? The refugee center?”

“Yeah, the refugee center.” The other woman scoffed, drawing your attention as T-Dog still tried to get a return. “They got biscuits waiting in the oven for us-”

“Got no signal… Maybe the roof.” As if on cue, the sound of a loud shot resonated through the building, having you reaching for your gun as a reaction before Rick grabbed your forearm again.

“Oh no, was that Dixon?” 

“C’mon, let’s go.” Glenn rushed you two, and you didn’t stay behind to watch those doors give in, running after everyone else to the roof. 

“Hey, Dixon! Are you crazy?!” Morales shouted while Merle Fucking Dixon kept shooting and laughing, you watched Rick move down, ready to react if needed. 

“Hey, hey! You all oughta be more polite to a man with a gun!” He laughed, moving from the edge to the same level as Rick, and you were already reaching for your gun again. “Only common sense.”

You watched from afar the racist piece of shit talk his ass off, you were well aware of the piece of trash that dude was. You couldn’t even recall how many times you had to attend to that motherfucker when you were working in the Atlanta Hospital. Half of it he was in cuffs due to DUI’s, overdoses, the other half was to stitch that asshole back up, and through his sexists and disgusting talk, you remember him mumbling about his biker gang, some bullshit about how he was proud to wear his colors. 

Exchanging glances with Glenn and Rick, you moved to join them while Glenn signed for you two to let it go. 

You flinched when T-Dog got hit in the face with the butt of Merle’s gun, you didn’t react fast enough when Rick got decked too, rushing to check if he was okay while still being mindful of that psychopath beating the shit out of T-Dog. 

“Hey, hey, look at me.” Rick ignored your words, taking a deep angry breath as you held his chin, tilting his head and trying to see if there was any real damage, when you finally backed away from your friend, you turned around to watch Merle do his speech while Rick got up slowly behind you;

“-Talk about who’s in charge! I vote me! Anybody else, huh?!” Your hand was still in your gun in case he truly decided to use his pistol, “Democracy times, ya’ll. Show some hands! Huh? All in favor?” 

You finally moved when Rick did, rushing straight to T-Dog while your friend brought Merle down, slamming the gun on his face while you helped the other men. 

“Got it over there, Curls?” Andrea and Morales eyed you suspiciously when you pulled your backpack off, rummaging through it in search of the few pieces of cotton and rubbing alcohol you still had left, looking over your shoulder to make sure Rick had it dealt with.

“Got it!” You nodded again before returning to the task in hand, snapping your fingers next to T-Dog’s face to see his reaction, pleased that he didn’t seem confused. 

“Ok, look at me. Feel like throwing up?” T-Dog shook his head slowly, hissing when you pressed the cotton with rubbing alcohol on his cuts, “Well, your reactions are good- you don’t seem to have a concussion, but I’d stay put for a few before trying to get up.” You turned at Glenn, eyeing him as he looked at you almost surprised; “Do you have water? He has to sip on it.”

“Yeah- Yeah, I think we got some downstairs.” You nodded while he scrambled to get up, continuing to check his reactions again before ordering him to move his arms and rotate his neck, pressing on his sides when he flinched at one of the movements.

“I don’t think your ribs are fractured, they’re hurting, sure, but you’ll live.”

Glenn finally returned with the water as you asked Morales to help you settle T-Dog against the wall, warning him to not lay down and to try to get up when it feels right. 

“So you’re a doctor?” Your eyes snapped at Glenn, who finally seemed to move from the stupor of Rick’s threats to Merle. 

“Nurse practitioner.” The other woman took it upon herself to help T-Dog drink water, fanning him after thanking you. 

“Quite the duo you got there, Glenn. A Cop and a Nurse.” Morales chuckled, still watching Rick pat Merle down in search of other weapons, you chuckled as he flicked Dixon’s nose, throwing the bag of cocaine off the roof while you joined him again. 

“You ok, Curls?” You followed him away from the group, checking his wrist as he sighed, watching the way you gently moved his hand. 

“It’s all good, Sketchy.” He covered your hands with his, smiling gently when you sent him a look he knew all too well, knowing that it was your way of calling him a dumbass.

“You’re not Atlanta P.D.” Rick backed away from you when Morales spoke, shaking his head while you looked down at the geeks pilling up. “Where are you from?”

“Up the roadways.”

“Well, officer friendly from up the roadways, welcome to the big city.” Sighing again, you watched the wrecked streets, the city you once shortly lived in, now in complete chaos. “How’s that signal?” 

“Like Dixon’s brain, weak.” You snorted at T-Dog’s remark, checking your gun as Andrea said that it didn't matter, that there was nothing they could do.

“Got some people outside the city, that’s all. There’s no refugee center, that’s a pipe dream.”

“She’s right. We’re on our own, up to us to find a way out.”

“Good luck with that, these streets ain’t safe in this part of town, from what I hear.” And there you were thinking you were saved from Dixon’s stupid commentaries. "Well, well, well. If it isn’t nurse sweet buns.” Groaning you looked up at Merle, who finally seemed to recognize you. “What do you say now huh? Wanna have a ride with poor ol’ Merle?”

“I’d rather not die from pox, Dixon. Ain’t like the rats you found on your shitty apartment and decided to stick your dick into.” He laughed loudly, looking you up and down when Rick tensed by your side. 

“You know him?” You side-eyed Rick, watching his stance as if he was ready to start shooting before you shrugged, looking back at Merle.

“He was a current visitor to the E.R. A fucking asshole, that’s what he is.” 

“Now, c’mon, sweet buns. Don’t tell me ya never thought of riding this dick when you took care of me.” Scoffing, you moved closer to him, crouching to his level while still maintaining a safe distance in case he considered grabbing your gun.

“The only thought I ever had about your nasty dick involved a barb-wire and a chastity belt, Dixon. But fortunately, for you, you’re not important enough to have me wasting time on you.”

“Rug-muncher. Figured as much.” 

“Watch it.” Rick snarled before you joined Morales again as he mocked Dixon.

“These streets ain’t safe. Now, that’s an understatement.”

“What about under the streets? The sewers?” 

Soon enough you were all gathering in the basement, looking down at the entry for the sewer as Glenn explained that he had already searched the building before, that was the only entry that went down. 

“But who would want to go down there, right?” He complained, a disgusted look on his face as everyone looked at him in silence. “Oh, right.”

Andrea looked at him sympathetically before saying that they would be right behind him. 

“No, _you_ won’t. Not you.”

“Why not? You think I can’t?” She bristled, brows frowning as you settled on Glenn’s other side.

“I wasn’t-” You couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, poor guy sure couldn’t handle her temper. 

“Speak your mind.” After he explained that it all went to shit the first time he brought a group, he continued:

“If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, _fine._ But only if we do it my way. It’s tight down there, if i run into something and have to get out quickly, I don’t want you all to jam up behind me and get me killed.” Nodding your head, you looked at the rest of the group while Glenn continued his plan. “I’ll take one person. _Not you either_ -” He pointed at Rick, explaining that he had one of the other guns besides Andrea, then he turned to you “You’ll be my wingmen-” You raised one brow as he corrected himself, “Woman, I saw you out there, you’re quick on your feet and you also got a gun, you won’t get in my way and if needed, you can shoot our way out-”

“No, she’s not going down there with you-”

“Rick.” He snapped his eyes in your direction at your sharp warning as Glenn looked between you two, you only shook your head in his direction before you turned to your new acquaintance. “Alright, I just need new boots.” 

“There’s some upstairs.” Jacqui chimed in, moving as if to grab them before Glenn stopped her. 

“Jacqui you stay here, Something happens, yell down to us and get us back here in a hurry. Morales, you go up to stay with T-Dog and try to find an opening in the street, see if we got any chance of making a run for it.” 

“Ok. Everybody knows their jobs.” Rick patted his shoulder while Andrea quietly asked what was your shoe-size, nodding before rushing off before your friend turned to you, eyeing you up and down and giving the same look you always gave him when he was jumping head first into bad decisions. “You shouldn’t have to go.” 

You looked around at Glenn and Jacqui, who were trying to pretend not to be paying attention, but you noticed Jacqui’s tiny smile before you pulled him to the other corner of the room. 

“I have to, Curls. We have to find a way back to our family, don’t we?” He took a deep breath, hands on his hips, looking almost sheepishly to the ground as you reminded him of what was more important. “Besides, you’re forgetting that I watched out for you _and_ myself, ok?” He chuckled lightly at your words before slowly nodding, still staring into your eyes when Andrea returned with some boots, leaving after Rick when you followed Glenn down the hole, grunting at the terrible smell and at the sight of rats. 

You had your gun on hand when Glenn made a disgusted sound, you didn’t have to walk for long before you two hit a wall, or better, strong steeled bars stopping you two from keep going. 

“Yeah, we got ourselves a sewer tunnel.” You grumbled as he let out a shaky sigh, swallowing thick as you two pointed your lanterns on it. 

“Think we can cut through it?” Tilting your head, you tried to shake it to check how sturdy it was before giving a proper answer. 

“Without heavy-duty tools? I doubt it-” You backed away at the sudden noises, shining the light on the disgusting geek mid-way through his rat meal before he too noticed you, trying to grab you through the bars before you pulled Glenn further away as he nearly tripped on his own feet. 

“Well, at least they also can’t get to us.” Scoffing, you grabbed the back of his shirt to turn him around, still being mindful of what was going on behind you while still pushing Glenn back. 

As if not being able to leave through the tunnels wasn't enough, the second you got off that hell-hole, you could hear the loud crashing and shattering of the doors, keeping your gun trained to the ground, you stopped by Rick’s side. 

“What did you find down there?” 

“Not a way out.” 

“We need to find a way, _soon_.” 

* * *

Rick passed the binoculars to Morales as he started:

“That construction site, those trucks. They always keep keys in hands.” Everyone looked down at the mass of munchers walking around the way that stood between the building and the truck. 

“You’ll never get past the walkers.” Morales tried to reason as you turned to Glenn, crossing your arms and cocking your head to outside the building. 

“You got us out of that tank.”

“Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted.” He argued, rounding everyone before settling in front of you. 

“Can we distract them again?” 

“Right. Listen to him, he’s onto something.” You rolled your eyes at the round of Merle’s voice interrupting the conversation. “A diversion, like on _Hogan’s Heroes._ ” 

“Shut your goddamn mouth, Dixon.” Jacqui chuckled at you snapping at him, returning your attention to Rick when he carried on as if he wasn’t bothered by Merle sending you kisses. 

“They’re drawn by sound, right?”

“Right. Like dogs, they hear a sound, they come.” You nodded at Glenn’s words, resting your hand on your gun as you wondered for how long that door would hold.

“What else?”

“Besides hearing you? They can see and smell you.” 

“They can tell us by smell?” It was moments like those that reminded you that Rick had been awake for less than three days. 

“Can’t you?”

“They smell dead, we don’t. That’s pretty distinct.” Andrea chimed in after Glenn’s rhetorical question, and something on Rick’s eyes reminded you of that time he tried to get you to steal all of Shane’s underwear for a grand stupid plan of his. 

“No- Rick _no_ -”

* * *

“If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold.” You would’ve snorted at Glenn’s retort if you weren’t so goddamn pissed off. 

Not only did Rick want to be a part of that _stupid_ plan - _that he didn’t even know would work -_ , but he said you’re not being a part of it. 

“He’s right, just stop, ok?! Take some time to think this through.” Morales tried to argue while you finally approached Rick, who was doing his best to ignore your cold and harsh glares. 

“How much time? They already got through one set of doors, that glass won’t hold forever.” 

“Rick, c’mon, you can’t believe I’ll let you go there alone.” He kept his back at you while he rushed to put on the coat, sighing at your hiss: “ _Look at me goddamnit!”_

“I’m not going alone.” You scoffed, looking at the group before moving to stand in front of him, holding the coat open while he took a sharp breath to glare at you. 

“I just got you back, and now you want me to let you do this with someone who - and I mean this with no offense, Glenn -, _you don’t know if will have your six?”_

“None taken.” You nodded at Glenn before turning to look at Rick again, who had been able to pry your hands off and was now pulling on his gloves. 

“I have to, sketchy. _We have to find a way back to our family, don’t we?_ ” You pressed your lips in a thin line with his smirk at having used the same words you did before, punching his shoulders before he complained mid-chuckle, grabbing both of your shoulders to stare into your eyes. “I trust Glenn, and I need your help to take these people safely to their group. Alright? I _need you_ here.” He cupped your cheeks and rested his forehead on yours, staring straight into your eyes before you mumbled:

“I am so telling on you to your wife, asshole.” He chuckled, kissing your forehead before moving to nod at Morales and Glenn, you sighed and worked your way to the baseball bat that Morales was offering. 

Soon enough, you were all standing around the corpse, Rick seemed to be taking a few seconds to psyche himself, finally returning to the group and adjusting the axe on his hand, moving on his spot nervously, you watched Glenn flinch in disgust when Rick finally moved. 

But you knew your friend, even though the rotting body in front of you hasn’t been a living human in a while, he still couldn’t see them any other way. Perhaps it was because Rick never truly saw them gnawing at human flesh, at his friends and co-workers, he only saw the outcome. He didn't see one of them turning. 

“Wayne Dunlap. Georgia License. Born in 1979;” He passed the document to Glenn, who was getting paler by the second. “He had 28 dollars in his pockets when he died, and a picture of a pretty girl.” You smiled gently, looking down at your feet as he carried on: “ _With love, from Rachel._ ” He looked at us, continuing his speech, “He used to be like us, worried about bills, or the rent, the Super Bowl… If I ever find my family, I’m gonna tell them about Wayne.” 

With that, Rick stood up and prepared to… do the job. 

“One more thing-” Glenn stopped him “He’s an organ donor.” You couldn’t _not_ chuckle at that, turning away when everyone stared at you having a fit of laugh. 

“I’m sorry, just caught me by surprise, that’s all- _Jesus Christ._ ” Rick gave you no time to recompose yourself as he chopped Wayne away. 

Everyone groaned in disgust at him repeatedly lowering the axe on the body, as Morales took on the job, you patted Glenn’s back when he went on how he was going to hurl.

“How are you not affected?” Andrea asked between short breaths, and you shrugged, still trying to ease Glenn when you answered.

“I was an E.R. nurse, I’ve seen some shit. And when it all started, we were all caring for them. The first turnings were… gruesome.” Nobody said anything at your quiet words, smiling gently at Glenn until he returned it with a weak smile. 

It wasn’t long until you were helping slather the guts on Glenn and Rick, you watched them leave, being pulled inside by Morales. who quickly moved out of your way as you ran to the top of the building, searching for a vision of them. 

You ignored Merle’s babbling as you frantically searched for them, sighing in relief as you spotted them, so far they were being able to walk through without a problem, even though you were quickly growing concerned by the time closing. 

T-Dog was still trying to contact his people, you only paid attention at the mention of a _Shane_ , but you couldn’t focus, or care when you realized that the voice that responded was much older than _your Shane_ , trailing your eyes back at your friend, you wondered if you should risk using Merle’s gun. Sure, your aim was good, but was it enough to not hit Rick or Glenn?

You clutched the edge of the building when it started to pour. 

“No- Please, _please_.” 

"It's just a cloud burst, we get them all the time. It’ll pass pretty quick.” Morales tried to calm you down, but your breath was shortening, watching as the walkers started to do double-takes and search for the source smell. You nearly collapsed as one of them ran into Rick’s direction, soon enough they were fighting their way off. 

You were already in tears when they jumped off the fence, and you had to watch Rick shoot the other crawling over it while Glenn apparently searched for the keys, and you nearly collapsed when they finally started the truck off. 

“They’re leaving us.” Andrea started, and you raised your eyes to look at what they were seeing, but you just shook your head, swallowing your tears as they went on about how they needed to turn back. 

“They’ll come back, don’t worry.” You sighed as they all stared at you wide-eyed, watching you brush your hair back before checking if something in your bag could be left behind to save up space while you told them to pack whatever they could and came for, surprisingly, they didn’t take long to obey, scrambling for their bags as you paused at the sight of Shane’s charm. 

You swallowed thickly before tucking it safely in your pocket, choosing to leave behind the random stuff you found, only keeping what you truly needed - _plus Carl’s comic._

It didn’t take long for them to have their response on the radio, leaving Dixon to T-Dog as you led them off, helping Jacqui with one of the bags before you waited for them. 

Next you knew, you were throwing bags and helping them inside before Rick was driving off, all of them were staring at T-Dog while you moved to the passenger seat, putting your hand on top of Rick’s when it moved to your knee, squeezing it reassuringly when he apologized quietly for leaving you like that.

“I knew you’d come back, Curls.” He smiled before turning back to check if everyone was safe, you counted a head less than it had before, T-Dog answered the silent question;

“I dropped the damn key.” 

* * *

After a while, Morales took your place while you moved to the back you could check on T-Dog again, as well as the others after scolding Rick for his shit plan, you listened to Morales try to make Rick feel better about leaving Merle behind. If anything, it was _your_ fault. 

You were in charge of everyone, after all. You could’ve taken the responsibility to take Dixon out of his handcuffs.

“It’s not your fault either.” You snapped your eyes at T-Dog, who quietly tried to reassure you. 

“Neither is yours.” He scoffed at your response after you settled back, smiling at Glenn’s whooping as he drove past the truck. After a while, the truck finally slowed to a stop, you sighed as everyone ran off to meet their families. You crawled back at the front seat, squeezing Rick’s shoulder as he rested his head in the steering wheel, taking a deep breath when he heard Morales call

“Hey, helicopter boy! Nurse! Come say hello.” 

“Ready?” He eyed you, squeezing your hand before you smirked. 

“I was born that way, remember?” He sent you one last smile before finally hopping off, you were way too focused on digging Shane’s lucky charm from your pocket to notice that Rick had stopped, you raised your head when you collided into his back. 

“Oh my God-” You stepped to the side to see what caught his eye when you saw them. 

Carl had tears on his eyes as Lori was crouched in front of him, both of them looking at Rick. 

“Dad... _DAD!”_ Your eyes welled with tears as you watched Carl run into his arms, it was only when you heard a thud that you looked to your side, Shane had fallen back, staring at you wide-eyed, eyes shining when your breath hitched, that single whisper seemed louder than a thousand voices, for you. 

_“Y/N?”_


End file.
